School to return without mandatory COVID-19 measures // Huge fire burns through Serra da Estrela
Portuguese news in English on Saturday, August 13, 2022.
By the numbers
School to return without mandatory COVID-19 measures
The next school year will go ahead without any mandatory anti-coronavirus measures, the Ministry of Education tells Público. That means nor more obligatory masks, one-way corridors or altered timetables in changes to take effect when school goes back in November. One schools representative group called for an official update from the government. On the vaccine front, the European Union has reached an agreement with Moderna to push back the delivery of 15 million doses to later in the year in favour of jabs better-adapted to the Omicron BA.1 and BA.5 variants Público reports. A Portuguese study has found booster shots with the existing jabs continue to provide “substantial protection” from the most serious effects of BA.5, Público reports.
Huge fire burns through Serra da Estrela
A 16,000-hectare fire that roared through Serra da Estrela this week is one of the largest ever in Portugal’s protected areas, environmentalists tell Público. The fire, burning since last Saturday, spread high enough on the mountain to impact areas that are home to some of the region’s rarest species. On Friday morning, more than 1600 firefighters, eight aircraft and 500 vehicles were fighting the blaze. Guardians of Serra da Estrela vice-president Manuel Franco said more than 13,500 hectares were burnt in the Serra da Estrela National Park, including a micro-forest with 500-year-old oaks. About 22% of the park burnt in 2017, according to the Portuguese Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests. Firefighters brought the blaze under control late on Friday and will continue to monitor the area for days, Lusa reports.
Claims refugee patient suffered ‘degrading, cruel and discriminatory treatment’
A multinational refugee aid organisation has filed complaints to a series of Portuguese health bodies alleging a Guinean immigrant was subject to “degrading, cruel and discriminatory treatment”, Público reports. Ibrahim arrived in Portugal in November after a months-long journey via Mali, Algeria, a Libyan prison, a boat across the Mediterranean Sea and a refugee camp in Italy. He died in July, eight months after arriving and two months after a cancerous mass was found in his kidney. The Jesuit Refugee Service, which had been helping him, claimed that there was medical negligence from the beginning of his treatment to post-mortem. These complaints included being released from hospital when he shouldn’t have been, including one time from the Santa Maria Hospital amid a doctor’s complaint of “bad behaviour”, and that his body wasn’t refrigerated 48 hours after death, among other issues. The hospital forcefully denied any accusation of disciminaton based on the state of health or origin of this patient or any other, and that an initial evaluation showed clinical best practices had been followed.
In other refugee news, the Inspectorate-General of Finance has shelved its inquiry into the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Setúbal, Público reports. The inquiry revealed the irregularities regarding the relationship between the council and an immigrants’ association managed by Russians with suspected links to the Kremlin.
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In brief
August airport strike called off after agreement reached. Unions called off the strikes planned for August 19, 20 and 21 after coming to “consensus” with ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, which manages the country’s major airports. (Lusa)
Personal credit allowing house purchases with 100% financing. The Bank of Portugal, which introduced limits aimed at reducing risky lending after the financial crisis, said although some people were using both personal and housing finance to buy homes, the practice was rare. (Público)
Germany lobbying for gas pipeline from Portugal to rest of Europe. After a decade in limbo, the project has been buoyed by the support of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the face of the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Público)
Almost two-thirds of government missed deadline to declare register of interests. Only 23 members made the May 30 deadline and most didn’t arrive until June or July. (Público)
On a lighter note
If you’re a fan of Portuguese design classics like Bordallo Pinheiro, you’ll probably have noticed that they’re kind of everywhere at the moment. The beautiful green cabbages and overtly detailed living creatures are suddenly almost as easy to find in some foreign countries as a pastel de nata or bottle of vinho do Porto. But that wasn’t always the case, The Guardian tells the story, in English, of how Pinheiro’s work laid the groundwork for a resurgence in maximalist Portuguese designs from forgotten or detested in the ‘90s to suddenly sought after